Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, his friends or acquaintances, JK Rowling does. I thank her for letting me play with them.
DADA Homework Assignment #7, Prompts: Autumn, change
Life Happens When You Are Making Plans
Narcissa looked around the small flat. Living room, eat-in kitchen, bedroom and bathroom with a small storage closet in the basement of the building totaled her property. Not an inch of outdoor space to call her own, but she was content. She was in the autumn of her life and the past ten years had been good. After the war her husband had been sent to Azkaban for life. Her only son had left the country and married. She had yet to see her only grandchild because of the deserved bitterness on his part. The government had confiscated all the family properties and money that was in Gringotts and left her "penniless" and on the streets. She felt certain that her son didn't know that because he had already left. She had only recently had read of his return to London in the "Daily Prophet". Narcissa had trained as a healer before her arranged marriage. She then had spent the 20 years as the trophy wife for one of the wealthiest wizards in Britain.
She had taken her father's advice when her mother had obliterated her sister, Andromeda, from the Black Family tapestry. He had put money into muggle bank accounts for the two youngest of his three daughters. The oldest, Bellatrix, had always moved beyond his sphere of influence and was perfectly happy with the power that her name and pure blood bought her. Andi had been pleasantly surprised to receive the bank book as a secret wedding present when she married Ted Tonks, the muggle she loved. Narcissa had added money to her account over the years and had a small nest egg. When the Ministry had taken all they had owned in the wizarding world, she was able to move on with her life and attended a muggle school of nursing. Now she was a midwife and enjoyed the work immensely and had lived quietly for the last 10 years. She had bought the flat over time by scrimping and using a good portion of her muggle savings as down payment. But now it was hers and paid for in full! She had a small auto which she used when she worked nights, but otherwise took public transportation. She had contributed more to the savings so her life was comfortable. She did not need a wealthy wizard to enhance her life!
That was until all hell broke loose. She didn't know how they had traced her since she had lived outside the magic community for 10 years and rarely used her wand. The false sense of security was shattered to splinters when two aurors arrived on her doorstep with her husband. The 10 years in Azkaban had not been kind to say the least. After years of being surrounded by Dementors Lucius' mind had been completely destroyed. In the muggle world they would say he had dementia. He had good moments and mostly bad. He could not remember who she was most of the time. He was still functional, thank Merlin, so he could be left at home while she worked. Soon he would need constant care and then what would she do. The aurors gave some vague excuse that he needed more help than they could give in prison because of a shortage of healers. Stupid Ministry, cut off their nose to spite their face! She had succeeded when they expected her to fail and now they had visited hell on her again.
Now she was stuck babysitting the same jackass that she had been married to for 30 plus years. He was same idiot her mother had insisted the marriage to would "enhance" their standing in the wizarding world so her father had acquiesced and signed the marriage contract. There was not a chance on earth he would recover. The stupid bastard that had followed, then "unfollowed", then followed, and then said he had renounced allegiance to Tom "Snake Face" Riddle. Well everybody believed that! What on god's green earth was the Ministry thinking? She had been a good wife to him and suffered because of that. Granted they had a superficial relationship once their son had been conceived, but it was a loveless, arranged marriage and nobody expected more. There could be no divorce so the Ministry had the audacity to tell her they would not even help monetarily with his support or care. She would end up with no money by the time, in their words, "this situation resolves itself". He's a wizard! He could live another 100 years without two brain cells to rub together except on occasion! He had nothing but ruin her life. She should have followed her sister and found a muggle! What was Narcissa going to do with this insane husk of a man? Cope! That's the only thing she could do. Cissy Black, as she was known in the muggle world would win. She had her flat. She had her car. She had her job. She had her strength. She was proud. She was independent. Cissy Black would not bow to the whims of the fates, nor would she wither on the vine.
The first plan of action in her mind was to continue with her job. This provided her stability but also kept her sane. These people needed her help and she was good at her job. No, it was more than a job it was a career. The second part of her action plan was to find some place for Lucius to go during the day. If he were a muggle or she were certain he would not use accidental magic, even his state, she could take him to an adult day care while she worked. She would have to find a caretaker for her husband and hopefully it wouldn't cost all of her savings. She would just have to find a squib or muggleborn witch or wizard that could work in the muggle neighborhood where she lived. This was a dilemma because she couldn't just put a classified advert in the "Daily Prophet" and say wanted squib to take care of crazy death eater in muggle neighborhood, could she? Or better, how about an equally ironic advert in the "Times" requesting a muggleborn witch to insure the health and wellbeing of one of their biggest enemies of the past three decades. Either of those would go over like the "lead balloon" they were always talking about at work.
Running slightly ahead of schedule, Cissy left Lucius in front of the television with the remote in his lap. She had instructed him how to use it, but when he seemed confused she wrote the on/off instructions on a piece of paper and taped it to the back of it so he could find them. He was still not talking much, more like grunting. She left a couple of Agatha Christie mysteries on the table by him along with a plate of sandwiches, a couple of pieces of fruit and a pot of tea with a warming charm on it and a cup to drink it from. Since Lucius' arrival she had renewed and strengthened the wards on the flat and charmed the door and windows not to open without her wand. It was going to have to do until she made other arrangements.
One morning a couple of months later, Cissy caught the tube to work. The schedule was light that day, but you never knew with midwifery. Plans could change in the bat of an eye, babies could decide to be born whenever they wanted to be born. There was one new patient on the schedule. Someone with infertility issues wanting a consultation and possible referral to an expert in the field. Otherwise the morning was just making follow-up calls on the last few babies that had been delivered.
When the arrival of the new patient was announced, Cissy was worried. "Had Sister just said that Ms. Lovegood was in Patient Room 1? This surely couldn't be the little blonde girl that had been so unceremoniously housed in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor during the war? What would a witch be doing here? Wait! I'm a witch. Hm-m-m-m, maybe?"
Steeling herself for the meeting in case it was the "little blonde witch" who had been treated so badly at her former home, Cissy straightened her uniform, pulled herself to her full height, took a deep breath and opened the door. Both women stared at each other in shock. Sitting on the examination table was none other than the sister Cissy had not seen since she had watched from the back row at the memorial services for the war dead ten years ago. The silence was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Then they rushed to each other and clung in a hug of rekindled faith and hope. Tears of joy ran down their cheeks. Cissy told Andromeda that she had missed her for over twenty years and she was so glad to find her again.
The Sister was called to change the Midwife in charge of Ms. Lovegood's case due to conflict of interest and they left for a long lunch because there was so much to talk about. While discussing their new lives, Andromeda said that she was concerned when she couldn't find Narcissa after Lucius' trial. Cissy was glad that Andromeda had found a new love. Andromeda suggested that she would look around for someone to sit with Lucius during the day.
Six months later, Andromeda came into the office with exciting news. She and Xenophilius were expecting a midlife baby. Cissy also had news for Andromeda, someone had contacted the Ministry of Magic about her situation. They had threatened to tell the "Daily Prophet" that the Ministry was dumping "demented" death eaters back into society and on family members in the throes of the poverty visited on them by the "good will" of the Ministry. Cissy was unaware of who had contacted them, but suddenly she was getting a reprieve. Lucius had gone downhill in the eight months that he had been home from Azkaban and even with the help of Mrs. Figg, Cissy could no longer care for him and continue working. Lucius was totally unresponsive. The Ministry was pressured to find a room for him in the mental ward of St. Mungo's. They were picking up the tab since officially Narcissa Malfoy had been stripped of all of her money years before. Cissy Black would be free and independent again, except that now she would have family. Narcissa Malfoy, for all intents and purposes, was as dead as the ideals that she had held for the first part of her life.